YouTube’s Most-Streamed Music Videos Of All Time Revealed

YouTube turned 20 this week – the video-sharing website was born on 23 April 2005 – and to celebrate, it has outlined the most-viewed music videos of all time.

If you’re expecting Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, Guns N’ Roses, Beyoncé, and other stars, prepare to be surprised: none of them feature in the top ten.

Gathered by Stereogum, at #10 is OneRepublic with the 2013 hit single, Counting Stars, at 4.148 billion views. At #9 is Waka Waka (This Time For Africa) by Shakira feat. Freshlyground with 4.217 billion views. Maroon 5’s Sugar is at #8 with 4.225 billion views, Dame Tu Cosita by El Chombo & Dancing Green Alien feat. Cutty Ranks at #7 with 5.03 billion views, and Axel F by Crazy Frog at #6 with 5.177 billion views.

Onto the top five: at #5 is Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk feat. Bruno Mars with 5.549 billion views, Psy’s viral Gangnam Style at #4 with 5.553 billion views, Ed Sheeran’s Shape Of You at #3 with 6.45 billion views, Fast And Furious 7 lead single See You Again by Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth at #2 with 6.65 billion views, and at #1? Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee with a whopping 8.704 billion views, leading to a revolution of Latin American hits.

Unsurprisingly, songs with a novelty factor, whether it’s Axel F or Despacito, cultural touchstones – Waka Waka was the FIFA song in 2017, after all – and inescapable tunes such as Uptown Funk and Shape Of You appear so high on the list.

And with YouTube making its debut in 2005, songs from the 2000s and early 2010s, which were consistently played by Millennials, dominate.

Since its launch in 2005, over 20 billion videos have been uploaded to the platform.

As of March 2025, YouTube notes that more than 20 million videos are uploaded on a single day, and last year, users posted over 100 million comments on videos, on average, each day.

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